New York, 24 June 1967
UN796. Confidential
United Nations—Secretary-General
I took the occasion of a farewell call on the Secretary-General1 on 24 June to put to him some of my impressions after serving at the United Nations for the past two years.
2. I said that Australia had been and still was an active and responsible member of the Organization. I felt disturbed, however, by the extent to which a radical minority had over the past few years been able to play on the prejudices of a large group of Afro-Arab-Asian members in directions which were one-sidedly anti-Western.2 I spoke of the efforts to establish a new doctrine about legitimacy of so-called ‘struggles of national liberation’ which, if accepted, would allow the UN to condemn administering authorities for maintaining law and order in their territories. I mentioned the shock and anger in Australia and Papua/New Guinea when the United Nations, by large majorities, passed resolutions condemning our administration of Papua and New Guinea in terms which were patently false. We might not be angels but we did not feel ourselves to be rapacious colonialists. We were.spending in Papua and New Guinea a very considerable amount of money which we could be using elsewhere. The tone and volume of UN criticism naturally affected the image of the UN in our country, although we continued to appreciate the importance of the United Nations as an organization for peace and for mobilizing economic and social development. But it seemed to me that we were going through a difficult period and in Canberra I would discuss how best Australia should adapt its policies in the United Nations during that period.
3. To this U Thant said that he could understand the national viewpoint of Australia. He went on to say that many other delegates and groups came to put to him their own doubts and misgivings about the way the United Nations was shaping. In particular, he had constant criticism from the Africans about the UN’s failure to deal with the problems of Southern Africa such as South West Africa, Rhodesia and Apartheid.
[ matter omitted ]
5. The Secretary-General said that the United Nations was all that we had to deal with our problems. International peace and security came first and we would have to build on whatever measure of agreement emerged from better relations between Moscow and Washington.
[NAA: A1838, 936/3/1 part 2]
1 U Thant (Burma).
2 See footnote 3, Document 24.